Railroad-car



S. D. ROGERS. RAILROAD CAR, APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15, I916.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

4 SHEETSSHEET1 122 09%); 50 Lomon D.- Meyers.

fliormgr S. D. ROGERS.

RAILROAD CAR.

APPLICATION men NOV. 15, 1916.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920..

S. D. ROGERS.

RAILROAD CAR.

APPLICATION FILED. NOV. 15, 15MB.

Patented Aug. 24; 1920.

4 shins-skim a.

S. D. ROGERS.

RAILROAD CAR. APPLlCATlON FILED NOV. 15. 1916.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

4 SHEETSSHEE1 4- Durante Solemn ZLRo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SOLOMON I). ROGERS, or SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO COMMERCIAL CARS CONSTRUCTION 00., or SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION or CALIFORNIA.

f RAILROAD-CAR.

Patented Aug.- 24, 1920.

Application filed November 15, 1916. Serial No. 131,365.

To'all whom it may concern:

Be" it known that I, SOLOMON D. Roonns a citizen of the'United States, residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State of California, have inventednew and 'useful Improvements in Railroad-Cars, of which'the following is a specification.

Principal items'in the expense of running interurban railroad cars have heretofore been, first, the great weight of the car sup; posed to be necessary to give tractive power,

second, the construction and maintenance 'of the heavy road bed which is required to withstand the great momentum of the heavy car, and third, the trolleys and wires. 7

The objectlof the present invention is to provide a railroad car, first, having great tractive power but of comparatively light weight, thereby also reducing the initial cost and cost of maintenanceof theroad, second, which can be quickly started and stopped, third, so constructed that'the driving mechanism can readily be removed from under the body of the car and another substituted therefor, and, fourth, dispensing with the necessity for using wires and trolleys.

. In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a' side view of my improved motor car; Fig.2 is a horizontal section thereof; .Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of a driven truck and the engine for driving the same, the

floor of the car being shown in vertical sec-- tion'; Fig. 1 is aplan view of the same; Fig. 5 is a cross section of the same on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the body of a car supported upon a fronttruck 2 and a rear truck 3. Said body is supported on the front truck'2 by means of carriage springs 4, the ends of whichare suit ably connected to blocks 6 bolted to'beains 7 on the under side of the floor 8 of the car. The middles of said springs are clamped by clamps 9 to the ends of anarch'ed hanger 11, the middle of which is'pivotally connected by a king bolt 12 to the middle of an arched support 13, the ends of which are secured to circular wearing plates 14, which plates and reinforcing blocks 15 within and next to the plates are bolted, as shown at 16,

to channel-irons 17, the ends of'whicliare secured by U-bolts 18 to the axle casings 19 of the forward truck.

The anles 2O insaid casings are, as shown, differential axles,and the worms 21 for driving theaxles 20 are placed beneath the worm gears 22 on the axles and' connected' by universal joints 23 to a shaft 24: driven by means of an involute toothed gear 25 on a portion thereof near the front driving'axle, around which is a silent chain 26 which passes around an involute toothed gear 27 on the front end of a driving'shaft 28,.

driven by a gasolene engine 29. The fly wheel casing 30 of said engine is bolted to one end of'the transmission case 31, through the other end of wl'l'ich extends the shaft 32, the transmission having the usual'shifting lever 33 and brake lever 23%. V

The wheels on both the front and rear axles of the truck are provided with flanges 35 to engage the inner sides of the wheels,

and have on their inner sides braking drums 36, concentric with said axles.

, The car is supported upon two trucks, a driving truck at the front end and a trailer truck at the rear end, both pivotally connected to the body of the car.

The interior of the car is divided into an engine room 11 at the front, a baggage room 42 at the rear of the engine room, a smoking room -13 behind the baggage room, two entrance vestibules a l, one on each side of the car, and a lavatory 46 at the middle of'the car between the vestibules behind the baggage room and a parlor 4-7 behind the vestibules and lavatory, there being also an observation platform 48 behind the parlor compartment.

In the parlor I have adopted what I believe to be a novel seating plan. The seats 19 are arranged in two longitudinal rows at the sides of the parlor. Each seat is permanently fixed to the floor, so as to extend in a forward direction making an angle of 60 with the longitudinal direction of the car.

The main seat 51 in the smoking room is at the front thereof next to the baggage room, and the floors 52, 53 of the baggage room and the main portion of theengine room are higher than the remainder of the floor 5 1 of the car and level' with said main truck areilocated at the extreme front end 7 of the car, housings 60 for the upper portion of said wheels are erected upon the supports for theframe ofthe car. Skirtingsfil for the wheels of the front truck also depend fro'm's aid' supports and protect them against dirt and also act as safety devicesi v v The following arel'some .of the advantages of my improved construction: v p 'My improved car possessesgreat tractive powerin proportion to its weight, owing. to the fact that both the front and rearwheels of the driving truck are positively driven.

The use of. an internal combustion engine for the motlve power permits t to be quickly started and stopped. The-front of the body of the car can be easily disengaged andraised from the drivingftruck, thereby permitting another driving truck to be quickly substituted if desired for repair.

The connection between the engine and. the driving axles by means of a worm and worm gear, and especially the location of the Vworms on the under sides of the driving axles, instead of above the same, as in general automobile construction,.permits of the engine being placed low down and thefloor of the engine room and baggage room to be 7 but little above the remainder of the floor of the car. The provision of universal joints 7, between the ends of the driving shaft and the worm shafts avoids the strain upon the drivingshaft due to inequalities of the road bed'orunevenness oftherail. The location of the transmissionmechanism in frontof the engine, instead of, behind the same, as is general automobile practice, permits of the engine being concealed beneath the engine and baggagerooms and allows the driver of the engine to control theengine from an extreme front portion ofthe car, where 0bjects' on or near the track in front of the car are plainly visible.

The arrangement of the floor by. which a portion of the floor of the engine and baggage rooms is above the engine, and the rema ning portion is below the engine shaft,

- permits of the main portion of the floor,sup-

I wheel of the driving truck, is still further seat for the driver of the engine.

of differential axles on the driving truck of.

porting the passengers, to becom paratively low. The arrangement by which a portion of the flooig'immediately above the fifth raised, permits of the latterbeing used as a The use its front" mechanisni for braking automobiles being applied to a railroad car. Thearrangement of the seats in longitudinally extending rows each seat being fixed to the floor of the car and directed forwardly and inwardly,

permits of accommodating passengers in the greatest number and with the most comfort to themselves. The "form of the front of the car, namely, that the walls converge toward the front, and that it has housings for its wheels, reduces the resistance of the air to themotion of the car. p

I claim A motor car comprising a body, a true l; for supporting the body,'a motor sup ported on said truck, andan operative connection between said motor and a wheel axle of the truck, comprising themotor shaft, a worm operatively connected to said motor shaft and below the wheel axles of the truck, anda Worm gear on one of said wheel axles meshing with said worm. V

V 2. A motor car comprising abody, a truck for supporting the body, a motor supported onfsaiditruck, and an operativeconnection between said'motor and the wheel axles of thetruck, comprising amotorshaft, a driving shaft operatively connected to said motor shaft, worms on the ends'of said driving sha'ft'and below the wheel axles of the truck, and worm gears on said wheel axles meshing with said worms.

, 3. A motor car comprising a body, a truck forsupporting the'body, a motor supported on said truck, and an operative connection between said motor and the wheel axles of the truck, comprising a motor shaft, a driv ing shaft operatively connected to said motor shaft, worms on the ends of said driving shaft and below the wheel axles of the truck, universal joints interposed between thedriving shaft and theworms, and worm gears on said wheel axles meshing with said worms. v

4. A motor car comprising a truck, a motor supported on said truck and operatively connected with one of the axles of thetruck, and a'car body," the main portion of the floor of which is below the shaft of the engine, but a portion of which floor is raised above the main portion of the engine.

5. A motor car comprising 'a truck, a motor supported on said truckand operativelyconnect'ed with one of the axles of the truck, anda car body, the .main portion of the floor of which is below the shaft of the engine, but a portion of which floor is raised above the main portion of the engine, aportion' of the latter immediately over the fifth wheel of the driving truck: being raised.

6. A motor car comprising a truck, a motor supported on said truck'and operativeiy connected with one of the axles of the truck, and a car body, the main portion of the floor of which is below the shaft of the engine, but a portion of which floor is raised above the main portion of the engine, a portion of the latter having an opening therethrough to permit the controlling mechanism to project upwardly above said 10 portion.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

v SOLOMON D. ROGERS. Witnesses F. M. WVRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS. 

